Floral No 269
Before revising
I liked this painting, but I wanted to like it more, so I revised it.
After
finished painting by © Katherine Jeanne Wood
Available for purchase here
Daily painting: 365 day art project
Day 216
Linking to PPF
Revised floral painting No 113 – Daily Painting day 191
BEFORE
This one didn’t need a lot of revising, imo, but it did need some. I like it much better now that the flower doesn’t blend so much into the background.
AFTER
daily painting: 365 day art project
Day 191
Available here
Prints are available here
And just like that..another month has ended, and a new one has begun. January was my favorite month of daily painting by far. I was able to record a bunch of videos, and get my youtube channel going again. Really happy about that because it’s been sitting there neglected for six months.
I also was able to find a nice groove doing the 365 day project, finally. I didn’t realize how much I was struggling with it until I wasn’t anymore. I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders when I started going with the natural organic flow of the day, every day, rather than having a rigid theme to follow. I’m so much happier now.
Your life is the manifestation of your dream;
it is an art.
You can change your life anytime if
you aren’t enjoying the dream.
– don Miguel Ruiz
So, no theme, no pressure to finish a painting daily, and no daily blogging are my new “rules” for the remainder of the 365 day project. I work best when I don’t box myself in like that.
So, here’s to month 7 of painting daily, which is magically spread out before me. This month I hope to get some more paintings revised, and perhaps give my art journal some attention. Nothing crazy. I’m pacing myself because I have 5 more months to go before I get a day off.
What do you hope to accomplish during this short winter month in your studio? Let me know in the comments below.
Linking to PPF.
Nonlinear fashion – Day 169 of painting daily
Side note: If you could see the rest of my house, you would know what a clean freak, germaphobic (Did you wash your hands???!!), minimalist I am, but there’s no way you’d get that impression looking at my studio work tables. lol
One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that I normally (when I’m not doing the 365 daily painting project) work in a nonlinear fashion, and I work on several paintings at the same time. By “several” I mean I have anywhere from 5 to 30+ paintings in various stages of completion that I’m working on. I know that probably sounds extreme to some of you, but I love the chaos of it all. If I’m painting only one painting I’m bored to tears. Might as well not bother even showing up because there’s nothing worse than sitting around watching paint dry. lol
Unless I’m working with a client/company, and/or there’s a deadline looming, whatever strikes my fancy the most is what I’ll work on. I go with my gut, and it’s a split second decision. Sometimes nothing appeals to me, so I’ll go dig out my art journal and work on a blank page instead. I go with the flow..whatever that might be for that moment. I’m telling you all this because I can’t guarantee when you’ll see the revised painting I started yesterday again. Might be tomorrow or sometime next month. I have no idea. I will finish it eventually, trust.
So, pictured above is another painting I’ve been working on revising. I thought I had it finished, and had stuck it behind my studio door. I found it this morning, and looking at it with fresh eyes, I immediately thought NOPE!! Most definitely NOT finished. Back to the work table it landed with a big thud.
I like to make my own collage paper, and since I’m into stripes right now (and always, you’ll see stripes in many of my paintings if you look hard enough), that’s what I did here.
It looked good on paper, but I wasn’t feeling the teal as much when I got it down on the canvas. So, I had to layer over it..
Work in progress
Floral No 149
20×16 on canvas
daily painting: 365 day art project
Day 169
And here’s where it ended for today. Time to let this dry, and move on. I’ll let you know when I pick back up again with this painting.
Letting go – Daily Painting day 168
If you let go a little you will have a little happiness. If you let go completely you will be free.
Ajahn Chah
New theme started on January 1st, and I’m happy to finally tell you the details. Instead of picking a specific subject to paint, forcing myself to complete a painting a day or painting for x amount of minutes, I’ve decided to set myself free, and not have a theme at all.
I’ve been doing monthly themes now since I started the 365 day project back in July. I’m ready for a break. It’s possible that I might want or need that kind of structure/discipline again sometime down the road, and if I do, I’ll reconsider. For now, it’s overwhelming enough knowing that I’ve locked myself into painting every day for 365 days, I don’t need more rules, restrictions, regulations, and/or challenges on top of that.
I’m ready to go a bit easier on myself, and just start winging it without any preconceived expectations. Whatever’s going on in my studio will be blog fodder for that day. For confidentiality reasons, I can’t show you the custom or contractual work I do, but I can show you lots of other things. Sooo, let’s get started.
Since it’s a new year, I’ve been going through my inventory, and pulling paintings I don’t like to revise them. I started with the blue floral painting you see above – Floral No 279. It’s a 12×9 inch panel. I liked the flowers, sorta, but the problems I saw: it was too dark, the vase was too thin and set back too far. It had to go. This is what I did to revise it..
Meh. Still didn’t like it, but I wasn’t sure what I could do to make it better. It’s been kicking around on my work table now for a week or more. Today I looked at it, and something finally clicked. I thought, the flowers have to go. No wonder I don’t like it, this painting wasn’t meant to be a floral. So, I turned it into this abstract…
Work in progress
daily painting: 365 day art project
Day 168
I’m starting to warm up to it, in a small way. It’s not finished yet, so I’ll keep working on. The real fun part? I’m recording the process on my iPhone, and I’ll be uploading it to my poor, neglected youtube channel. It’s been 6 months since I uploaded a video. I plan on changing that this month.
A sneak peek of my work table before I started recording
🙂
If you’re into YT, subscribe to my channel, so you don’t miss any of the new videos I’ll be posting. I’ll be posting willy nilly because I don’t want to be tied down to any strict schedule. All I can say is I’ve already filmed a bunch of stuff that I’ll be uploading as soon as I get it edited.
I’m looking forward to a hodgepodge of writing, photos, and videos. I’m not sure if I’ll be blogging daily or not..my guess at this time is no. If I have something large to post, I’ll post daily. If not, I’ll cobble several days together into one post.
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The results – 5 minute painting day 30
Work in progress
5 minute painting
day 30
daily painting: 365 day art project
Day 166
Painted and written on Dec 30, 2017
My thoughts on the month of December, as the days are winding down..
I started this 5 minute painting a day experiment with others in mind, not thinking I was going to learn anything from it myself (was I ever wrong about that!). I wanted to prove that it’s possible to paint every day, even if you’re busy working 9 to 5. I found out, yes, it definitely can be done. As someone who works anywhere from 12 to 16 hours daily, I found time to squeeze in 5 minutes.
The trick is to stop complaining (because it’s taking up precious time), make a commitment, show up, and get to work. I realize it was probably easier for me to do this because I work in my studio, and not outside the house somewhere. Still, I do believe it can be achieved if you set your mind to it. No one will ever convince me otherwise. We all have 5 minutes a day that we’re wasting somewhere that could be put to better use.
Available hereSold
Prints are available here
Now on a more personal level..
I was painting larger than I normally do this month (because if you’re going to challenge yourself might as well go big), and some days I couldn’t believe how much my painting changed in just 5 measly minutes. I’d think WOW! I can’t believe I did all that in so little time. Some of you noticed, also.
With the timer ticking, it was as if I became a different artist. I noticed I moved much faster than I normally do, and with precise, deliberate strokes of the knife or brush. This doesn’t happen if I have the whole day splayed out in front of me to paint. If I think I have all the time in the world then I need all that time, plus more.
Landscape oil painting
Available here
My final and biggest takeaway from the 5 minute painting is this..it has forever changed the way I think about the daily painting project. By only painting 5 minutes a day, I realized that I’ve been spending too much time and energy on this project. I now know I need to lighten up, stop taking it so seriously, and go easier on myself. No more demanding I finish a painting a day, as I did for 120 days prior to this. I don’t want to go through my days feeling overworked, and exhausted all the time.
One more day, and then the timer gets put away. I’m looking forward to the new theme for January.
Slightly off kilter – 5 minute painting day 29
Work in progress
5 minute painting
day 29
daily painting: 365 day art project
Day 165
Painted and written on Dec 29, 2017
The way of success:
Visualize the end result,
Plan, Take action, Persevere,
Re-plan, Take action, Persevere.
– Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Today all I had time to do was get the center line straightened out. It still appears to be slightly off kilter to me, but I can live with it. I don’t want to waste any more of my 5 minute sessions trying to fix it. If I need to, I’ll deal with it in January when I won’t have such a time crunch going on.
I listened to Jimmy Eat World – Integrity Blues and Super Whatevr – Kathrin With a K while painting today.
Center – 5 minute painting day 27
Work in progress
5 minute painting
day 27
daily painting: 365 day art project
Day 163
Painted and written on Dec 27, 2017
Win as if you were used to it,
lose as if you enjoyed it for a change.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
That !@#%%^$%^ center line. Arrrgh!!
hello.
hello.
Dark little cave – 5 minute painting day 26
Work in progress
5 minute painting
day 26
daily painting: 365 day art project
Day 162
Painted and written on Dec 26, 2017
The lighting in my studio leaves much to be desired. My studio faces north, and it resembles a dark little cave. I have the overhead light on all day because it’s too dark in here to work otherwise. Since there’s a window directly behind the easel, and the paint is still wet when I take the photo each day, I’m constantly getting a reflection of the window on the canvas. I’ve been turning the easel slightly to try to avoid the glare, but it’s far from an ideal situation. I’m pretty sure 2018 is going to be the year for me to invest in some proper indoor lighting, so I can take better photos, and perhaps, a new camera, also.
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